Surrender… I don’t always do it gracefully. Just one more little tweak. Now, just one more. Suddenly it’s two hours later and the piece has evolved into a whole different look. Sometimes that is exactly what needs to happen. Other times, I am just nit-picking myself into the hole of non-productivity, and it is time to surrender my perfectionism.
When I first start brainstorming with a client, throwing out the breadth of ideas, I simply don’t spend the time perfecting anything. It seems silly to waste time on work that will be mostly rejected for the one “winning” idea. Once that idea is chosen, then I dig in and start cleaning it up, replacing rough images with clean ones, and developing the vector image (if applicable).
Every individual has slightly (or major) different ideas about how they wish to be represented. Discovering the balance between a concept and an actual working design can be an adventure in communications.
Hopefully the end result will be exactly what the client wants and needs. Preferably, that design has been achieved through grace, which is only truly accessed through surrender.
So, here I am working on some project and I get a phone call: Emergency! Gotta have something for this afternoon! What do I do?
First off, there are no emergencies! Only tighter deadlines, in my book.
Secondly, if I have received the challenge of producing a graphic quick, I just breathe. There is joy in creating a graphic immediately. One of the greatest joys for me is to just open up my heart, and let the ideas start flowing through. As long as I don’t start off by second gusessing anything, I will usually have a bunch of ideas in no time flat. This is not to say that they are all good ideas, just ideas. The secret is to not judge them, let them unfold, in my mind, in my palette on the computer.
Quick sketches provide a buffet from which to choose. At this point, I may ask for input, or I may just put thumbnails up and go get a cup of tea. Then I can peruse the initial ideas with a fresh eye, looking for possibilities. Still I am not judging, as it is just the beginning of the discerning process.
I may choose 1 to 3 ideas to flesh out. Very rarely at this point do I throw them all out and start over again, although that is always an option.
These fleshed out roughs will be sent to my client for input, and the beginning of the proofing process. The secret, then to graphics on the fly, is approaching it at first with an open mind, the brainstorming model with no judgement.
My Mom turned 80 this last week. That’s a major milestone, in my book. We had a big party for her in her home town, with lots of family and several friends of hers. A great time was had by all of all ages, from 7 weeks old to over 80. I so enjoyed the whole thing, especially getting to see my Mom and my Aunt and my sisters and getting to hold the newest 7 week old member of the family. That does fill me with extra joy, I’ll say.
So did the trip home. The fall colors were just exploding all over the place. The brilliant golden yellow aspen, the flaming red maples, the big fluffy white clouds stark against the brilliant blue sky: it was eyecandy everywhere. If I had stopped as I wanted to every time I saw a beautiful photograph in the making I would not have gotten home before dark, let alone before 2pm as I had promised. Color like that causes an aching joy in my chest. All of my pores fill up with it. No more is needed. I am complete.
What a perfectly wonderful weekend.
I started seeking deeper knowledge of my life’s purpose when I was about 13. I read Siddartha by Herman Hesse that year: “The only thing of importance to me is being able to love the world, without looking down on it, without hating it and myself – being able to regard it and myself and all beings with love, admiration and reverence.” My Catholic grandma bought me a Buddha statue, and my Mom took me to dance with the bear and the Maidu people.
And so, my eclectic journey on spiritual quest expanded into consciousness. It seemed like there were a lot of hard things in life and I felt this calling to make it better for everyone somehow. My heart was opened, even as I entered the turbulent teenage years immersed in a life fraught with harsh encounters and pitiful choices.
My seeker’s path spiraled through the many years of uncommon life. Somewhere along that sustained course I discovered enduring joy. I observed that even in the depths of despair there is a Source of Joy lurking in my heart of hearts. I learned to lean into the joy with all my faith for sustenance and guidance.
I wish you that tapping into the artesian well of joy in your heart this day, and always. May your life be steeped in it.
Do you have a consistant brand – a unified business identity?
I participated a series of workshops way back when called Alpha Awareness Training. I gleaned a lot of tools there for dealing with life in a positive way. One of the concepts that Wally Minto talked about in this work was that there are two ends of a spectrum called imagers. We each and every one of us imagine – “image” – things in different ways, including “seeing” no images at all. Anyway, the spectrum is “changing imager” vs. “fixed imager.”
Every time a “changing imager” imagines what they wish to create or what they would like as an outcome, the visualization is different. I used to work with a woman in a small art store who was a totally unleashed “changing imager”. Every time she would work, the store would take on a completely different look, and all of the stock would be moved around. It was great for sales. The customers would come in and not see what had attracted them before. Ack! When they discovered that it was actually still in the store, only on the other side of the store, they would buy it before it really did get purchased by someone else.
A “fixed imager” is the person who sees one thing in one place solidly always. If you should happen to move the couch an inch during cleaning, this person will most likely not be comfortable until it is returned to it’s correct place. The goal stays in mind until achieved and beyond.
Most of us are somewhere on the spectrum, not really one extreme or the other.
I, for example, have a constant stream of ideas. Given the slightest opportunity to brainstorm about anything, a treasure-trove of jetsam will wash upon my shores. On the other hand, there are unbreakable threads of motivation which have remained very steady as core values of my personality. These recurrent themes pursue my imagination with a bulldog-like persistance.
You might be wondering what all of this has to do with your branding. Your branding is an anchor: it provides a fixed image in which your clients and customers can trust. Rock solid, it provides the foundation on which to build of all your promotions and marketing.
A formula for success involves a happy combination: let the changing imagers create new and edgy products, promotions, and advertising campaigns while you tether them to your overall success with the fixed image of your unified business identity.
